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Marco Rubio Re-Elected To U.S. Senate

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The votes are in and Marco Rubio has won Florida's Senate race.

Rubio took the stage just before 9 p.m.,  making a joke about the last election - when he ran to be the GOP's pick for president.

"This is a lot better than the last time I did one of these in Miami," said Rubio.

He also took a moment to congratulate his opponent for putting up a good fight, even calling him after results came in.

"I congratulated him on a good race. Congressman is a young man with a bright future," said Rubio. "Patrick ran a great race."

Murphy spoke to the public around the same time and gallantly accepted the results.

"The people of Florida have spoken and at the end of the day I respect their choice," said Murphy.

Murphy later released a statement reiterating what he said during his speech.

"It has been the honor of a lifetime to be Florida's Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. I'm proud of the campaign we built and so grateful for the passion Florida families across the state put into this fight..."While we hoped for a different result, the people of Florida have spoken and I respect their choice. I congratulate Senator Rubio on his victory and on the incredible honor of representing this state again in the U.S. Senate. Floridians are counting on him to fight for them, and he has my support in that fight."

Rubio won with more than 52% while his challenger Democrat Patrick Murphy came in with about 44 %.

Tuesday's results come at the tail end of an ugly race between Rubio and Murphy, characterized by insults and accusations.
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/10/26/pressure-on-murphy-to-put-out-strong-debate-performance-against-incumbent-rubio/
Initially, Rubio said he would not run, but when he lost his bid for the Republican nominee for president he changed his mind, prompting many to ask if he would run again in 2020 - leaving the Senate behind.

Rubio had said he would serve his six years term if elected and had no plans to run for any office in 2020.

Throughout the race, Rubio faced criticism by some for not un-endorsing Donald Trump as other Republicans had. Although he had condemned Trump several times while keeping his distance during his campaign.

Murphy, on the other hand, aligned himself closely with Clinton.

During the race, Murphy had been found, in some cases, to have exaggerated his experience and in other instances made claims that were misleading or outright false. One example was when Murphy said he worked as a CPA in Florida. He has never been licensed in Florida, only in Colorado.

Murphy said the accusations were lies and had been debunked.  On the other hand, PolitiFact said they had not debunked those attacks saying Murphy exaggerated his credentials and his opponents had also exaggerated their attacks.

During most of the race, Rubio was ahead in the polls but in the recent weeks, the race had tightened.

Click here to read more about Campaign 2016.

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